Does diaper color really matter?

When my son was a week or two old, I put up a picture of him in a hot pink newborn diaper on Facebook that was captioned: “Real men wear pink.” I didn't always plan on letting him wear our pink diapers. When I had my daughter, I couldn't help but to add a couple of girly diapers into her stash. I like girly colors, and dressing up a girl in a frilly pink dress with a diaper to match is so much fun! The rest of my stash is dutifully gender neutral, which to me, really means anything but pink or purple because I love putting blue on a girl as well as anything. When God blessed us with a boy, we had to get some things from scratch because they were so girly--clothing mostly, but also a few bits of baby gear as well. I don't really have a problem with my son using pink things or playing with dolls (although I do draw the line at clothing with ruffles on the butt, or a lacy dress) because boy colors and girl colors are really rather arbitrary and have nothing to do with gender or gender roles and because I think that real men can grow from little boys who play with babies and have learned to be sensitive and caring. Besides, when my daughter was a baby, I'd put her in her pinkest, girliest outfit and people would still ask me: “How old is he?” or “What's his name?” Yeesh!

I have a pretty plentiful cloth diaper stash. I didn't really need any more cloth diapers for my Baby Bear. When I first prepared for his arrival, I brought up all my gender neutral colors and left my pinks and purples downstairs in their storage bin. Honestly, we had so many, I didn't see a need to bring them all up. But then, we discovered he is quite the heavy wetter and can sometimes go through more than one diaper an hour. On one particular day we counted 17 dirty diapers! If he didn't sleep so much, it would have been many more. So, I grabbed the pretty diapers and added them to his stash. “What does it matter the color of the diaper on his bum?” I asked my husband.

“It really doesn't matter,” he replied easily.

He's right. Wearing pink won't make him any less of a boy. Besides, I have girly diapers in some of my favorite brands--a hot pink Knickernappies, an amethyst Rump-a-rooz, and a soft pink GroVia. It was nice to be able to use those again because they're all great diapers.

So now, Baby Bear wears all of Bunny's old diapers and I don't even stress about it. At first, I limited the girly diapers to home usage, but then I stopped even looking at the color of the diapers in the basket as I grabbed them to stock his diaper bag. So he's in pink? So what? He is still all boy and the color of the diaper on his bum won't change or mar that. He won't even remember it by the time he's done wearing them. So if you have a girl and you've been abstaining from all the adorable flowery, princessy, girly diapers out there, abstain no longer. Go ahead and get a few. Having a son later on down the line won't mean you can't use them. They're for containing urine and feces, for goodness sake. Do you have a boy and you've been avoiding buying fire truck and robot prints? Don't worry, a girl would look adorable with those prints on her bum! Of course, if it really does bother you, I'm not judging nor am I trying to pressure you into putting colors on your child that make you uncomfortable. Personally, I just found that the whole color-coding-genders thing is sort of silly. I mean, my husband looks really hot when he wears pink and my son is just as adorable in a pink diaper as he is in blue. But that's just me. I understand that not everyone is okay with that and that's okay too.

So, what does your stash look like? Lots of gender neutral colors and prints, or have you stocked your drawers with plenty of colors that are socially and culturally gender specific? Do you care if your girl wears boy prints or your son wears flowers on his bum? Why is that?

I only have boys so I've only ever bought "boy" or gender neutral covers. I don't think I would buy any pink covers unless I had a girl and even then I'm not sure I would. I'm not really into pink. But I might do a cute polka dot or something. I don't know. I seem to like the boy prints better but that's probably because I'm a tomboy. I don't think there is anything wrong with people wanting to buy "girly" diapers and put them on their sons. Have at it I say!

Mary Date 9/17/2013

We have one boy, and I have mostly boy and gender neutral prints/colors. When we have a girl I plan on buying pink and pretty prints. I just won a giveaway where I got to pick the print. I picked the Oops print from bumGenius because it's limited edition and it's purple. Who says purple is girly? The Irwin print has purple in it, so I think it's fine.

Rachel NDate 9/17/2013

I have used pink diapers on my boys but I do limit them to when we are home and used under clothes. I don't really care but I don't want them wondering why they are always in pink when they look back at pictures. I also have so many cute boys diapers that i like to show off when we are out:)

Angelina MDate 9/17/2013

I completely agree with you. I have "boy" clothes for my daughter that have been handed down to us. And even when she's wearing a pink dress, people say "oh, what a cute little ... one"!!! I've been trying to read the book Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls From the Boys in America, because it traces the evolution of gender colors through our history. Interestingly enough, the author states that boys used to wear pink and girls used to wear blue at the initiation of the gender color association.

Kim HendricksDate 9/18/2013

We have a mostly gender neutral stash with some blues it it for our two boys. I don't think I would go out of my way to purchase a girly diaper for them, but if we were given one we would use it. If we ever have a girl she will be wearing what we have, so she would be in blue a fair amount. The color of the diaper dosen't change who they are, it just bugs adults!

Darah FDate 9/20/2013

I have two sons so our stash is mostly boyish or gender neutral. If I were to have a daughter down the line, I wouldn't hesitate putting her in boy colors/prints. Although I may be tempted to go all out girly with the pink, flowers, etc.

Christina L.Date 9/20/2013

My little girl has worn girly prints, lots of different solids, ninja prints, and ooga booga prints! We use whatever is available (although we save the pretty ones for when she is wearing a dress)

Amanda StiehlDate 9/21/2013

I have a mostly gender neutral stash for my guy and I honestly don't think it matters, but there is no way hubby would let me get away with putting pink or purple w/girlie prints on him!

Lyss TaylerDate 9/27/2013

I only have 1 child a daughter. Most of my CD stash is gender neutral. I have a few girly diapers but I also have a few "boy" diapers. I don't know how I'd feel if I had a son and putting my girly diapers on him but who knows I'll probably try it and see how I like it lol

Dorothy JohnsonDate 10/14/2013

Most of our stash is boyish (I agree with the pink is for girls, less so with purple). If we have a girl, I'll add a few girly prints. We do have a few pink diapers (gifts), my hubby asked that they be worn only at home :)

Kara BrownDate 10/26/2013

If I had girl diapers laying around I am sure I would put them on my son too, they serve the same purpose! I have three little guys and one on the way though, so no pink in our house. I see diapers that are girly and I want to buy ALL the time but I just stick with the boy or neutral colors because my boys are called girls too much anyway. Real men do wear pink, so I say if you have hand-me-downs to use, go for it...heck no one really sees the diaper anyway.

Samantha YoderDate 12/17/2013

I'm not a huge fan of pink myself so my daughter doesn't have any pink diapers. In fact, I purposely didn't find out if we were having a boy or a girl just to avoid getting all the pink clothes and gear that I knew would be coming if we had found out she was a girl. But we do have lots of purple and what I would consider "girly" diapers and if our next baby is a boy I definitely wouldn't let them go to waste.

Theresa HoverDate 1/31/2015

I'm purposely not finding out what gender our first little one is because I don't want people buying us tons of girly pink clothes if it's a girl. I hate pink! Purple would be fine, and I plan on adding a few purple diapers to our gender neutral stash. Purple is a royal color, for girls or boys :)